£50k - would you convert the loft or update the house

[Leftfelange]

We've been in our house for a few years now. It's a doer upper. Not done a great deal to it before now. We're having to remortgage and we can afford to borrow another £50k without too much of a monthly increase.

DH wants to get the loft done and admittedly it would add value to the house - an extra bedroom, shower room and dressing room. Bedroom would have lovely views. Quotes are coming in at slightly over budget but doable.

I, however, think that we should focus on getting the house in order. The kitchen needs a complete overhaul and a wall moved, the bathroom needs a new suite and everything just needs a bit of updating - it's all quite tired.

While I agree with DH that adding a lovely loft room would increase the value of the house, I also think that our priority should be getting the house that we have in order first. To me, adding on a loft bedroom is a "nice to have" once everything else is done. For background it's a 4 bed house although 2 bedrooms are quite small, but totally liveable.

So my question is, if you had 50k to spend, would you sort out the kitchen and bathroom plus general decor or would you convert the loft and do the rest in however many years' time?

I'd get the house in order. The loft room won't come in at 50 and I think it would be worse to have a new room not finished the way you want to add to the house that isn't finished.

We just been quoted 75 for a single storey extension on a not big Victorian terrace, only going out to PD.

What would make the biggest impact on your household's experience of living in the house? If you're not planning to sell any time soon this is paramount.
In favour of conversion, you may uplift your house into another bracket by adding another bed & bathroom. Of course this could also take the house beyond the bracket that anyone is willing to pay for the neighborhood, so have a look at any loft conversions and prices sold at on Rightmove if you can. Disclaimer: When we were last looking there were lots of crap loft conversions out there that actively detracted value as they needed work to make them compliant with building regs/actually usable.
You will never get the money back on kitchens and bathrooms in sale price, as most buyers will likely want to replace if older than five years or so, and fashions move fast in design. But if it would make your experience of living in the house better, I'd go down this route.
If you're in a relatively ££ house, and not planning on moving on soon, it is about deciding which is going to be nicest for you. Good luck with the refurbishment.

I'd be very surprised if 50k was enough for what you describe tbh!

That said, the increased value may allow you to then remortgage again to do the rest?

I think it's kitchens that sell houses and so it would be a priority for me to get the kitchen sorted for sure.

To me, adding on a loft bedroom is a "nice to have" once everything else is done.
Depends. If you make everything showhouse-ready and then extend won't you have dust and rubble and goodness-knows-what trodden through your lovely updatedness? Chances are that you will say, "let's not bother after all".

Thank you all. Yes it's a tight budget whichever road we go down, but quotes we've had in the past week or so suggest we'll just about get there.

Yes you're all right - that's the basic dilemma. Doing the house up will make it nicer to live in and have a bigger impact on our day-to-day life. Adding a loft bedroom will likely increase the overall value more and potentially we could go room by room to update the rest of the house...

@senua

To me, adding on a loft bedroom is a "nice to have" once everything else is done. Depends. If you make everything showhouse-ready and then extend won't you have dust and rubble and goodness-knows-what trodden through your lovely updatedness? Chances are that you will say, "let's not bother after all".

Yes. Fair point. Urgh the dust. The original plan was to work from the top down but then I had a rethink.

Unless you’re absolutely desperate for the space e.g. pregnant with triplets I’d definitely do the rest of the house first and enjoy it. There’s zero point having a lovely new loft when the parts of your house where you actually spend most of your time like the kitchen are really tired.

And if you do the loft later, they can often work from the outside in and only bash through when ready for stairs. So it’s actually not as bad as other big building work.

Unless I was desperate for an extra bedroom, I'd do the house update

we were in this position 13 years ago and went with making the house liveable. six years later we added a kitchen extension, another four years later we added the loft. I'd do the same again. I

understand the top down plan but it wasn't too much hassle and we had plenty of space to live in when our children were small; the kitchen came at the right time and then the loft space too.

get the house in order.
houses 'with potential' tend to sell quicker than tatty houses with harlf hearted loft conversion.

@LakeShoreD

Unless you’re absolutely desperate for the space e.g. pregnant with triplets I’d definitely do the rest of the house first and enjoy it. There’s zero point having a lovely new loft when the parts of your house where you actually spend most of your time like the kitchen are really tired.

This is very much how I feel. And apart from perhaps a cat or two we're not planning to add any more dependents.

It's a long term house - so 10 years at least. We don't plan to remortgage again but I feel that if we can get the house in order we can spend the next few years saving for a loft.

I am at the point where I walk into the kitchen and scowl at it. I promised I'd be pragmatic when we moved in but I clearly lied to myself.

You all make very good points

If you were open to having a lodger, or maybe doing Airbnb in the spare room, it might be worth doing the loft room up, renting it out and then using the income to update the rest of the house, killing two birds with one stone.

How much is your mortgage that £50 k doesn’t make much of a difference😱.... my biggest ever mortgage though was 40k and I thought that was extortionate 🤣.

As you already have 4 bedrooms then I would sort the kitchen etc out. Otherwise won't the house be top heavy? I really don't like that in a home as I much prefer extra living space to another bedroom for the sake of it. Second bathroom is good though.
If you do the loft, the house will have a lovely loft conversion and the rest of the house will bug you until you end up borrowing more to get it done anyway.
Personally I wouldn't add extra on the mortgage to do either.

We did downstairs first, then the loft. Disruption from loft is relatively minimal as most of work is done from the top downwards ie from outside.
I don't get the focus on adding value if you're going to be there 10 years... Make it the house you want to live in. If in 5 years time you decide you need the loft space do it then

I wouldn't do the loft unless I was desperate for the space, it doesn't sound like you are.

It is your home and I would make it the space I wanted it to be in your shoes, yes it is an investment but you live there every day, your daily comfort and having a lovely space to live in is far more important than adding an extra room that you don't really need.

houses 'with potential' tend to sell quicker than tatty houses with half hearted loft conversion

God yes! There is nothing I hate more. It's like getting breast implants but not washing your hair and cutting your nails.

Watching with interest, as in similar position. I have an inheritence that's enough to pay off the mortgage and, a year or two ago was just about enough to do loft extention as well. However with COVID and Brexit and costs having gone up, we might have a stretch to do the loft and fit out another room and bathroom. Honestly, were it up to me, I'd probably rather fix the roof (which desperately needs doing) and keep money aside so we can replace the windows (likely needed in next 5 years), replace the kitchen in 10 years, buy a car.

We don't need the extra space per se, though it would be nice, and it might help on the assumption that our kids may need to live with us a for a bit when they finish education given how expensive everything is, but I mainly was thinking about it as 'might as well while we renovate the roof'. There was the possibility of some more family money appearing in the next few years, in which case I was more open to it, but apparently it's not on the cards now, so I can't expect any windfalls for a long time (I sincerely hope!)

But DH always goes for the ambitious option and I'm pretty sure will have set his heart on doing the loft.

Agree with the above. Get the main house in good decorative order and then look again at the possible loft conversion in future.

It depends if you want to stay in this house long term or not. If you stay, upgrade the kitchen, bathrooms and concentrate on LIVING in comfort, not thinking about the value too much- why does it matter when you are living in the house?
If you are planning to sell in the near future, adding a 5th bedroom and dressing room with bathroom for £50k is not very realistic. Besides, the rest of the house would still be not upgraded.

Improving your kitchen and downstairs living space will add value too. Perhaps not as much as the loft, but still not to be sniffed at. I absolutely would do the latter first because what's the point of having an extra room, albeit with ensuite and lovely views, if the rest of the house doesn't match up to its niceness?

It doesn't really sound like you want a loft conversion that much, and as PP mentioned the house would be really too heavy.

I'd prioritise getting the rest of the house into a better state and enjoying that if I was planning to stay at least 10 years.

Definitely refurbish the rest of the house. Hopefully you can get everything to a decent standard with that budget. We have a 3 bed and rewire, new boiler, plastering, kitchen, bathroom, windows etc etc will probably come in about £50k all in. That’s with a lot of DIY. It doesn’t make sense to add a loft room unless desperately needed and the rest of the house will still need doing and all the while you’ll be getting more frustrated with it. That’s the decision we’ve made too.